June 28, 2013
JACKSON, Miss. — Xavier University of Louisiana's
SiMon Franklin was named HBCU Female Athlete of the Year for 2012-13 on Friday evening.
Franklin, from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Xavier
and St. Joseph's Academy, received the honor during the HBCU Awards banquet at the
Jackson State University Student Center. The banquet is part of the inaugural
National HBCU Media Week, which will conclude Saturday.
Franklin was a standout for Xavier in basketball and track
and field. In basketball, Franklin was a four-year starter at guard who earned
honorable mention as a senior on the NAIA Division I All-America Team. She was
All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference for the second consecutive season after
leading the Gold Nuggets with 10.7 points, 2.4 steals ands 24.9 minutes per game
in 2012-13. The MVP of the 2012 GCAC Tournament, Franklin is one of nine Gold
Nuggets to reach 1,000 points, 300 rebounds and 200 steals in a career.
Franklin had 1,136 points, 331 rebounds, 208 assists and 220 steals in 128
career games at Xavier and helped the Gold Nuggets win three GCAC regular-season
championships, two GCAC Tournament championships and qualify for the NAIA Division
I National Championship three times.

In track and field, Franklin was the 2013 GCAC
outdoor champion in the 400-meter dash, and her time of 56.74 seconds at that
meet qualified her automatically for the NAIA National Championships. She ran
the anchor leg of the 400 relay team which finished second in the GCAC and
also qualified for nationals.
"I am extremely honored," Franklin said. "I thought I
was done with athletics and receiving awards after track season ended, but
then this happened. To be honored nationwide, that is amazing. I never
thought anything like that is possible."
Franklin recently began her first full-time job, in the
mortgage department of Iberia Bank in downtown New Orleans.
"Monee is first-class person, a wonderful choice for
this award and a great representative of Xavier University," said her
basketball coach, Bo Browder. "She is the type of student-athlete we continue
to recruit for Xavier."
Runners-up to Franklin were Dillard's Jazzmin Smith
and Albany State's April Thomas, both basketball players.
XU nominees who did not win were Christabell Hamilton
(women's volleyball) for female coach of the year, women's tennis for female
team of the year and the College of Pharmacy for best STEM program (science,
technology, engineering, mathematics).
Xavier is one of 38 U.S. colleges listed as a "Best
Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.
A list of all the winners:
• Female athlete of the year: SiMon Franklin, Xavier
• Male athlete of the year: Anaso Jobodwana, Jackson State
• Female coach of the year: Toyelle Wilson, Prairie View A&M
• Male coach of the year: Connell Maynor, Winston-Salem State
• Female team of the year: Hampton basketball
• Male team of the year: Southern basketball
• Best marching band: Jackson State
• Best choir: Oakwood's Aeolian Choir
• Best student government association: Albany State
• Best student organization: Spelman's SpelBots team
• Best student newspaper: North Carolina Central's Campus Echo
• Best alumni publication: Morgan State's Morgan Magazine
• Female alumna of the year: Nicole Bernard, Howard
• Male alumnus of the year: Tom Colbert, Kentucky State
• National alumni association of the year: University of the Virgin Islands
• Best research center: Howard's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration —
Center for Atmospheric Sciences
• Best STEM program: Hampton
• Best social work program: Fayetteville State
• Best fine arts program: Alabama State's Department of Theater Arts
• Best business program: Paul Quinn
• Best nursing program: Dillard
• Female student of the year: Olivia Stinson, Winston-Salem State
• Male student of the year: Polite Stewart, Southern
• Female faculty member of the year and lifetime achievement award: Myrlie Evers Williams, Alcorn State
• Male faculty member of the year: Kinfe Ken Redda, Florida A&M
• Female president of the year: Dianne B. Suber, Saint Augustine's
• Male president of the year: M. Christopher Brown, Alcorn State
• HBCU of the year: Spelman

The Xavier Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets compete in Division I of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) as a member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC).
Xavier fields men's teams in basketball, cross country, tennis and track and field and women's teams in basketball, cross country, tennis, track and field and volleyball.